


Soulmate Tattoo AU for Aromantics

by jemtessa



Series: Aro Friendly Soulmate AUs [2]
Category: Original Work, aromantic stories
Genre: Aromantic, Gen, Happy Ending, Platonic Soulmates, Self-Discovery, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, aro positivity, aromantic positivity, queerplatonic soulmates, you are your own soulmate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-13
Updated: 2017-06-13
Packaged: 2018-11-02 14:20:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10946304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jemtessa/pseuds/jemtessa
Summary: You live in a world where when you are born you're born with a tattoo that signifies your romantic soulmate. It takes shape the moment your soulmate enters this world. You've been told that your tattoo will be black. But when your tattoo develops it's a different colour, it's green. You spend your entire childhood wondering why your tattoo is a different colour to everyone else, you think you're the only person with a tattoo this colour... until you discover something important.





	Soulmate Tattoo AU for Aromantics

**Author's Note:**

> Written in second person.
> 
> Just a few trigger warnings:  
> \- Implied arophobia  
> \- Implied internalised arophobia 
> 
> I wrote this using my own experiences with some fiction, hope you enjoy. It starts off a bit rocky, sad, but ends happily.

A green tattoo manifests on your tiny wrist on the eve of your twelfth birthday. You watch as it takes the shape of an arrow. You stare at the tattoo blankly waiting for it to change colour. But it doesn't. Your stern look slowly turns into disgust as you remember the stories that you've been told over the years over what colour and shapes your tattoo would manifest in. One thing was always constant. The tattoo  _should_ be black. But yours wasn't. You rub your wrist firmly trying to change the colour, as if you're waiting for it to shed it's skin. And become the colour that you dreamed it to be. It didn't happen, the colour remained the same.

As you grew older the tattoo never changed, neither in colour or in shape. What you once knew wasn't what you knew now. There were things unknown about the tattoo phenomenon. When the people around you of all genders started to find interest in one another you began to question them. Question yourself. You wondered if the green tattoo was the reasoning behind this. Or that maybe you were a late bloomer.

You were wrong.

Years went on and you still hadn't experienced this feeling that the people closest to you were feeling. You began to hate yourself because of it. People started looking at you differently. As if you were a freak of nature. A broken toy that needed to be fixed. You hated being like this, and not understanding what was different between you and those closest to you. But you couldn't change it. You just watch as your friends become increasingly happier the moment they met their romantic soulmate. Deep down you weren't unhappy that you weren't finding yours, but there was a hint of jealousy there. Jealousy because everyone around you prioritised their romantic soulmate over their friendships with you and everyone else. Something you could never understand. To you your friends seemed just as important, like family because they made you who you are today. And you wouldn't be who you are without them.

As more of your friends found their romantic soulmates you watch in agony as your best friendships slowly die out as you realise how unimportant you were in their life compared to this soulmate they had recently discovered. As if nothing you had been through together mattered as much as this new person they were supposed to spend the rest of their lives with. As time went on and the more alone you became you realised that you weren't lonely. You relished the moments when you were alone. You wondered if that was a good thing.

\--

It was a bright and sunny day, barely any clouds in the sky, as you sat in the café drinking a nice hot cup of tea. Staring down at the arrow on the inside of your wrist. You had come to love and accept your strange tattoo, even without knowing the true meaning behind it. The tattoo itself never truly gave you any problems, and if it did you just brushed it off. The tattoo was a part of who you are. Of course there was a part of you that would always wonder the meaning behind it. But at this moment you were truly happy. 

A common conversation grabbed your attention. The cashier was flirting with one of his female customers. You rolled your eyes as you watched, slightly annoyed that this happened everywhere you went.  
“Maybe a beautiful woman like you are my soulmate,” he smiled. This most likely wasn't the first time the cashier had a conversation like this, and it most definitely wouldn't be the last. Not until he had found his soulmate. You watched as the woman leant onto the counter.  
“Hmm, I highly doubt it,” she sneered, pulling up her coat jacket and showing him her tattoo. The cashier's eyes changed, darkened before he smacked her arm away from him. The woman started laughing as she watched his flirtiness turn to disgust. Something she seemed to have been quite used to.

You noticed it. 

The colour of her tattoo. Part of it was green and in a shape of an arrow. You debated whether or not to go up to the woman and ask her about it but before you could the woman came walking into your direction. And before you knew it you gently grabbed her wrist,  your eyes pleading into hers.  
“Sorry, I-um can I asked you a question?” You whispered, letting go of her arm. The girl nodded before sitting in the chair opposite yours. You quickly turn your wrist towards her, showing her your tattoo. Her eyes widen, and deep understanding behind her eyes.  
“What does this mean?” you asked, watching her eyes soften. She gently took both of your hands, revealing her full tattoo. A purple shade and a green arrow.   
“It doesn't mean anything bad, quite the opposite actually,” she smiled. “It means you're aromantic.”  
You stare at her confused, but deep inside it was as if a light just went off within you.  
“I'm sorry?” You asked.  
“It means you experience little to no romantic attraction. I am the same,” she explained, putting her tattoo more on show. “The green arrow manes you're aromantic. And a purple spade means you're asexual. I'm both. And you are aromantic. Do you know what that means?”  
You shake your head, wishing that you could answer her question. “No,” You admit.  
“It means you are your own soulmate, as am I. And that's okay,” she smiled.  
“And that's okay,” you repeated, saying it more as a reminder to yourself than anyone else.  
“Yes! I've been told that something your tattoo may change shape. To signify that you have a queerplatonic soulmate. But if it stays the same it's okay, it's just as normal as someone who owns a black tattoo,” she explained, grabbing your hands tighter to reassure you.  
“Thank you,” you smiled, tears behind your eyes. The woman gave a friendly nod before leaving you with your new found knowledge.

For a moment you smile down at your cup, feeling more at ease with the world. As if you finally have an understanding of it, and can finally feel at home. Everything that had happened up until this moment finally made sense. You weren't a freak. You weren't broken. You've always been the person you were destined to be. Different, but still normal. You realised why being alone made more sense than being with anyone else.  You were your own soulmate and that made you feel alive.

**You are aromantic and that's okay.**

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Pride Month to all my fellow aros.


End file.
